US to serve again on UN Human Rights Council

The US has been re-elected to serve another three year term on the UN Human Rights Council in the only contested election for the organisation's top human rights body.

Several human rights groups have criticised a number of the candidates as unqualified, including Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Gabon, Kazakhstan, Pakistan and VenezuelaPhoto: GETTY IMAGES

9:37PM GMT 12 Nov 2012

The US was competing with four countries for three open seats belonging to the Western Group on the council. Germany and Ireland were also elected by the 193-member General Assembly.

Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the UN said her country was "pleased and proud to have been re-elected to a second three-year term."

"I'm proud to say that, today, the Obama administration's leadership of the Human Rights Council has delivered real results. Today's vote affirms that active US leadership in the Human Rights Council and throughout the United Nations system will continue to pay real dividends for Americans and for the rest of the world," she said following the vote.

Germany's UN Ambassador Peter Wittig also praised the vote, thanking member states for their support.

African, Asian, Eastern European and Latin American countries put forward uncontested slates, meaning candidates were virtually certain of winning one of the 18 open seats up for grabs in this year's election on the 47-member council.

George W. Bush's administration boycotted the council when it was established because of its repeated criticism of Israel and its refusal to cite flagrant rights abuses in Sudan and elsewhere. But in 2009, then newly elected President Barack Obama sought to join the council, saying the US wanted to help make it more effective.